I got to play music last night with a couple of friends of mine who happen to be brother and sister. They are amazing musicians. Mary plays the stand up bass and the ukulele and Peter plays guitar like nobody’s business.
We have been talking about getting together for awhile now, and last night it finally happened! We each brought three songs to the table, and practiced each one a couple of times. I brought “Angels from Montgomery” by John Prine, “Ford Econoline” by Nanci Griffith and “Across the Great Divide” by Kate Wolf.
A couple of Peter’s songs, I had heard him play before, “Poncho and Lefty” by Townes Van Zandt and “Souvenirs” by John Prine, but there was one new to me. And I hadn’t heard any of the ones Mary brought, but they were all special and wonderful in their own ways.
And the sound we made playing them together was pretty beautiful. I’m excited to see where this leads. Definitely making more music and having a wonderful time together, but I’m already seeing us doing some shows locally.
I think the sound we have is unique and special. I have been waiting so long to be able to play music with people who like the kind of music I appreciate. I think I have tried to learn a variety of songs over the years to please different audiences, but my heart is really in those soulful folk songs and songs that have a message. Sometimes that’s a country song, but most of the time, it’s songs by artists that most people haven’t heard of.
Maybe that’s what attracts me to them, the thought that I’m playing something different and interesting.
I have heard more than one person tell me that they hadn’t even heard of John Prine until after he passed away and they started seeing all the tributes to him online. And now they are fans of his music and can see what a gift he was to us all!
I think the first time I heard someone play a John Prine song was on a work trip. One of the other shelter directors played guitar and sang, so we both brought ours and planned to get together one night to jam. She played a bunch of John Prine songs and I was just in love with them immediately.
Do you ever have this happen to you? Once you hear an artist you had never heard before, then all of a sudden you’re hearing their music everywhere? Turns out my brother is a huge John Prine fan and he lent me a cassette tape (ya, this was awhile ago) with John Prine on one side and Loudon Wainwright III on the other. I still haven’t given him back that tape and he reminds me almost every time I see him. Haha!
I discovered Nanci Griffith the same way. One of my friends had heard me sing and play guitar at a party and thought I might be able to sing her songs. I was hooked immediately, but thought there was no way I could sing like her. I practiced a lot, singing along with that cassette tape in the car, and finally got a couple of her songs down. What an artist she was!
So what has all this got to do with essential oils? The only connection I can think of is vibrational and how they both lift you up and feed your soul. Music is vibration, your voice, the strings on the guitar, playing the different keys producing the different sounds (vibrations). Essential oils vibrate at different rates as well, and using them can help you feel joyful, calm, peaceful, or nostalgic, just like different pieces of music can do.
Imagine combining them? Music and essential oils? Try it! It’s the perfect combination and so so good for the soul!
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